Talking about sustainability

Q: Riccardo, you recently conducted a survey among Travel Managers interested in sustainability and their plans to introduce it into travel programs. Were you surprised by some of the responses?

A: Hi John, hello everyone, it's great to be here today

Yes, many answers surprised me and made me understand that in Italy the path to sustainability has just begun. We chose a sample of 350 companies balanced in terms of number of employees and turnover, but an important fact is that 57% of the companies interviewed had over 500 employees. In Italy, companies with more than 500 employees are required by law to present a corporate social responsibility report every year. To the key question: “Does your company prepare an environmental report?” only 24% said yes. I honestly believe that if you don't involve your employees in such an important topic you can't define your company as sustainable. If you want to achieve an objective focused on social or environmental issues, you must first of all raise awareness among your employees about the correct use of resources. This means that companies need to communicate their sustainability goals more effectively with their employees.

It is also important to understand what criteria are used to choose a TMC (Travel Management Company).

Although companies say that sustainability in business travel is very important (57% of respondents), when choosing a TMC they prefer quality of service (64%) and price (50%). Attention to sustainability is less than 25%. So they think: “I don't want to pay more for a sustainable TMC” but they clearly don't understand that they will pay the price difference in credits to offset the CO2 produced.

Sometimes a sustainable TMC is perceived as an elite company that sells high value-added services at an above-market price. Here is the first false myth to dispel. Sustainability is a choice. The supply of electricity from renewable sources does not represent a greater cost; it is not a greater cost to decide to reduce paper consumption in favor of digitalisation; it is not a greater cost to allocate part of the profits to projects that can help people or the environment. They are just CHOICES.

Q: Looking at the results, will Alma Travel use some of the information to work with clients and make suggestions on how to change their internal policies?

A: Only a few companies (28%) are able to quantify the carbon footprint for business travel and 60% say they do not.

We send a report with CO2 emissions to our companies asking them to offset them. We promote joint ventures with our clients to finance social or environmental projects. But that's not all: in the future I would like to organize a competition for travelers and reward the most virtuous. To the question: “Would you pay more for a more eco-friendly travel service?” interviewees seem to have doubts about the real commitment to sustainability on the part of suppliers. In fact, 82% declared themselves willing to pay more but only if the supplier is truly involved in sustainability. So TMCs need to do their share of work to make real involvement in sustainability clear.

Q: Has Covid-19 made Italian corporate customers less focused on travel and therefore sustainability has taken a back seat?

A: When asked “How important is it for a company or organization to be able to identify and communicate its significant impacts on the economy, environment and society?”, 78% responded that it is very important indeed.

However, it does not appear to be a priority throughout 2021 and few companies are planning new sustainable purchasing procedures. 47% expressed an intention to take action, but underlining that sustainable purchasing and practices are not a priority for 2021. I believe this is a mistake. Before Covid-19 we saw how sustainable companies grew much more than others. When the economy restarts, sustainable companies will have a significant competitive advantage and will grow even faster than in the past.